Enormous problem! need help urgently.

chakib

chakib

chakib

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Joined
1 Dec 2008
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78
So I'm building a computer for a friend. all the parts are here:

p4 3.0ghz (he insists on this)
Foxconn 945g7ma MATX mobo
2gb 800mhz ram
8800gtx

and most importantly and confusingly 3 HDD's
maxtor and 2 western digital caviar blue's
all are 250gb.

They are all brand new.

this is where the problems start.

primary check told me the bios recognizes all three HDD's. so i got on to install xp pro sp3 on the maxtor...as the installation gets to about 3/4 of the way through my mate comes into the room and stupidly cuts off power to the system as windows is installing. I restart it all thinking i have to do it from scratch. It seems i don't...the computer boots into the installation and asks for the XP CD to continue. i do as it says...it gets for component installation and just hangs there forever. it does not move for an hour. i get worried but leave it. the computers owner gets annoyed and switches it off and asks for me to install windows on another drive then format the maxtor later.

here is where the trouble begins.

Verifying DMI pool error.

here's what happens. it happens with both the western digital's only. if i put the primary master as the MAXTOR it goes into the half installation but that results in it just hanging half way through the installation.

now..I'm relatively ****ed off with him but i go on. I have scoured the net for solutions. unplugged everything. diffrent memory, removed HDD's tried single HDD's only. unplugged all but basics. tried Re-flashing bios but that did not work, and since its not my system i did not mess about

i really really need help. i don't see how the HDD's could be broken! they're brand new! I've read in places that the mobo is bust...but its unused...was brand new. old yes...but new!

so what on earth is going on...i just want to install windows on one of the drives!

i desperately need help...and it would so much appreciated..any questions are more then welcome.

thanks.
 
Get a lock on your door first of all.
From your description, your friend sounds like an idiot quite frankly if he turned the power off both times on purpose. :(
Tell him that if he wants to get his computer working then he can do it himself. If not, leave you to do it and do not touch any part of it.


Any chance you can connect the hard drive you want to install Windows on and give the drive a full level format?
 
Tried putting only one drive in and leave the others unplugged? Install Windows and then add them?
 
I would also go down the removing BIOS battery and having the system unplugged from the mains for a good few minutes to reset everything.

I agree with the above that turning the machine off at the mains while installing or posting is a very very bad idea.
 
I would say turning off the power without shutting down the pc is always a bad idea! I've had a look about and reckon it is highly likely to be caused by the hard drives. Try going into the BIOS and loading the failsafe options. Then download and run some sort of partitioning software, like Gparted, and run the live cd. Delete all of the partitions on all of the drives so its just unpartitioned space.

Now hopefully if you manage to run the windows installer everything should proceed correctly, in which case you can change the bios settings back.

And smack you friend in if he tries to kill the power again ;) Patience is a virtue especially with expensive hardware.
 
yeah he's a pain in the ***. he knows what's happening but he keeps asking why it ain't done. i told him HE bought the parts...its not my fault.

I've unplugged all components and tried each separately! It did not work. For once I'm quite stuck with a problem!

Made a silly discovery. Is there such a situation where either the bios or motherboard dislikes a certain marque of HDD's? I unplugged everything but the DVD drive and it surprised me by starting up the XP installer! obviously it immediatly told me there were no HDD's to install to but i was quite surprised. so it seems that the motherboard dislikes the western digital HDD's! could it be that the motherboard BIOS is old? or has a pickle with newer western digital models?

I've tried re-flashing the BIOS but its a pain to do from CD! I'll try again since the problem is quite irritating. whats more annoying is the fact that the BIOS recognizes all the HDD's with serial numbers and size. but does no let them post past the DMI pool....

but i'll attempt what Ucof said and do a full format on a mates computer (I'm more of a super laptop guy, but I'm building my own i7 setup slowly)
 
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